One little pile of sawdust

That's all I started out to sweep up. Just the sawdust around the finished cabinets for the church classrooms, so that I could paint them next week.

Then, as these things often do, that spot looked quite nice -- which led me to sweep a bit more....and a bit more....and a bit more. And since the floor was looking so good, why not put away all those tools that were out of place? And roll up all those extension cords? Then put all the paint supplies in order? Well, once that was done, I figured I might as well try to make some order out of all of the scrap lumber that was piled in various places in the garage - years worth of projects scraps. With my faithful companion, Jacob by my side, the work continued.

We built some storage bins hanging off the walls to get what I wanted to save up off the floor and out of my way. Jacob and I threw the rest in the back of the truck and finished sweeping all the places that hadn't seen a broom in years. We did a little re-arranging of some saw tables and made a trip to the dump, where I threw away 540 pounds of wood scraps. 540 POUNDS of wood scraps. That is all that was in the truck. Scraps of wood - most not longer than a foot. Imagine how clean my garage/workshop is looking. It's inspiring.

We continued and put stuff away, throw stuff away and 6 hours later - what started as sweeping a little pile of sawdust - was completed.

Tired, sweaty, scratched and with splinters in our hands, we were ready to collapse. Or at least I was ready to collapse. But alas, it was not to be. The kids had been invited to a birthday party this evening at Pump it Up, a world of fun if you like running around and playing in huge, inflatable objects. They slid down a slide about 25 foot tall, went through obstacle courses, jousted and boxed. The boxing gloves were so huge Carly could barely hold them up. They all had a blast and were ready to drop by 8 o'clock.

But no, things still to do. So we stopped at Lowe's on the way home. Jacob, in his best Jedi warrior imitation, broke one of the light shades off the kitchen fan this week - with his light sabre. Which wasn't supposed to be used in the kitchen -- which meant he had to pay to replace the broken item. Although this would probably be considered a work of art and some government agency would pay thousands of dollars for it, to me, it's just not what I want to see every time I go through the kitchen. So we went to try to find a matching shade. No such luck. They don't make them any longer and poor ol' Jacob could see his savings dwindling rapidly as he checked out the price of 4 new shades. He never said one word about it not being fair that he had to replace four when he only broke one. He just accepted his fate and helped me look for other things on my list.

One last errand to do on the way home -- a stop at Wal-Mart for all the things we need for Father's Day dinner. No way do I want to venture in there on Friday or Saturday. After getting through there, getting unloaded and getting all the stuff put away, it was after 10 before the kids went to bed -- gladly.

And as I tucked Jacob in, I told him that because he was such a big help in the garage today - I would buy the new light shades. Relief washed over his face. Sweet dreams little Jedi - and may the force be with you.